I had this problem with my 95ex coupe forever and i finally figured it out one day just messing around with it. When the problem started it should've tipped me off because it wouldn't work at all when i first turned the car on, but it would snap into life after 5-10 minutes. I figured out that the female connector had rusted so that the contact point was too deteriorated to send a signal to my instrument cluster. Now all i have to do is find a friggin civic in the terrible junkyards around here . . . wish me luck! Hope this helps. This is a frustrating problem to have, i know.

 

where is it rusted now?

if its a wire contact... just bypass the plug... cut the wire on the back side of the harness and crimp or solder another wire thats ruffly 12inches long preferably... then cut the wire near the harness so its about 3inches from your solder joint and then use some sealed spade terminals and crimp them on the wire ends... then solder the other bare wire end onto the circuit board strips... with the soldering iron HOT just touch it to the film for a second that will melt off that protective layer and then just solder the wire to that spot and after soldered use some type of layer to seal it again... like silicone or like hot glue which is my favorite

then put the gauges back in snap all the factory harnesses in and then plug that new wire together and your golden

my friend had same problem in his 93truck and thats how i fixed his gauge lights........ still works to this day...